Modern Heavy Bomber News, Pictures Thread (Non-Chinese)

[FORBIN]

 

[FORBIN]

US Bombers

159 B-52H, B-1B and B-2 in service :


76 B-52Hs


63 B-1Bs


20 B-2s

 

[Jeff Head]

Despite all of the big talk by Russia...like they are going to build 50 new build aircraft. As of 2015, 11 Tu-160s are combat-ready. A pitiful few.

By way of comparison, the US Air force's B-1B aircraft, which though smaller is in many ways still better in electronics and in the types of ordinance it can realizably deliver.\

100 were built. Ten have been lost to accidents. 27 are in reserve.

62 are available for combat and all of those are going through the latest upgrade announced in February 2014. Work began soon thereafter on a multi-year upgrade for all 62 B-1Bs, scheduled to be completed by 2019.

The vertical situation display upgrade (VDSU) shall replace existing flight instruments with multifunction color displays, a second display shall aid threat evasion and targeting, and act as a back-up display. Additional memory capacity is to be installed for the diagnostics database. Other additions are to replace the two spinning mass gyroscopic inertial navigation system with

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systems and a GPS antenna, replacement of the

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with the Scalable Agile Beam Radar - Global Strike (

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)

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,

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and a new attitude indicator.

Hot stuff for the B-1B Lancers!





As we know, there are 20 B-2s available.





...and to this day, there are 77 B-52H aircraft available.





A total of 159 bombers available for the US Air Force.

Russia has:

17 x TU-160
55 TU-95 MS
70 TU-22M

A total of 142 bombers available to the Russian Air Force.

 

[FORBIN]

Right now armed with only AGM-158A, although the B-1 is currently the only aircraft able to deploy AGM-158B.
After B-2-52, F-15-16-35.
Navy don' t have AGM-158 but use SLAM-ER.

USAF drops first JASSM from B-52 bomb-bay

The US Air Force (USAF) has progressed the rolling out of an internal smart-weapons capability for its Boeing B-52H Stratofortress bomber fleet, with the first test drop of the Joint Attack Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) in mid-August.

The test, which was conducted by the 775th Test Squadron at Edwards Air Force Base (AFB) in California, saw three of the Lockheed Martin AGM-158 JASSM 2,000 lb stand-off cruise missiles dropped from a B-52H fitted with an upgraded Conventional Rotary Launcher (CRL) in its bomb-bay.
This is the first of three test phases and was primarily focused on data collection associated with weapon clearance within the weapons bay and while rotating on the CRL. With a clean separation of the weapon in flight demonstrated, the next (interim) phase will include more of the same but with the addition of live weapons. The third phase will validate the CLR system's full capability.

These trials are the latest for the 1760 Internal Weapons Bay Upgrade (IWBU), which has already seen the B-52H validated for the internal carriage of the Boeing Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM). The nearly 60-year old bomber was already able to carry up to 12 JASSMs and JDAMs on external pylons but until now had only been able to carry 'dumb' bombs internally. With this upgrade, the aircraft total smart-weapons carriage capacity has been increased with a further eight internal munitions.

Once the JASSM/JASSM-Extended Range (ER) is validated, the USAF will begin the process for the Raytheon Miniature Air Launch Decoy (MALD). As noted by the USAF, the primary advantage of carrying these stories internally is that it greatly reduces drag, which extends the aircraft's range and/or mission time.

Named after Military Standard 1760, which relates to aircraft wiring, the 1760 IWBU work involves reformatting the B-52's existing internal Common Rotary Launcher so that the storage management overlay will be able to digitally communicate with smart weapons.

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[SouthernSky]

B-52H returns to Afghanistan for the first time in a decade.

The United States has resumed operations of its B-52H Stratofortress strategic bomber in Afghanistan for the first time in ten years. The strategic bomber recently flew several operations, dropping 27 munitions in various counterterrorism operations in Afghanistan. The reintroduction of the bomber may highlight the United States’ expanding role in Afghanistan and the increasing instability in the country.

“We got the B-52 back in the fight in Afghanistan and Iraq,” Staff

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announced.”We have the B-52 contributing to a significant ground effort and employing weapons in close proximity of friendly troops who are under attack [and] who are preparing the battlefield in new ways.”

Goldfein indicated that the U.S. Air Force’s B-52H detachment at the Al Udeid Air Base has conducted roughly 325 strikes, dropping nearly 1,300 bombs in Operation Inherent Resolve in Iraq and Syria.

The B-52H brings valuable capabilities to the fight in Afghanistan and its reintroduction on the battlefield may highlight the rising instability in Afghanistan. Capable of carrying 70,000 pounds (roughly 32,000 kilograms) worth of munitions, the aircraft can hold an array of bombs, to

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20 long-range JASSM-ERs, 80 Small Diameter Bombs, 24 MALD-Js,

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, 51 500 lb bombs, 30 1,000 lb bombs, 12 joint stand-off weapons (JSOW), 12 joint direct-attack munitions (JDAM), and 16 wind-corrected munitions dispenser (WCMD).

On top of its impressive payload capability, which offers much flexibility to ground commanders, the B-52H provides another added bonus especially specific to the mountainous terrain in Afghanistan. Equipped with modern and secure radios that include

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, the B-52H is capable of acting as a network node such as the Battlefield Airborne Communications Node (BACN), which would act as a relay station feeding information to ground and air assets over the country.

The reintroduction of this strategic airframe may highlight changing conditions on the ground in Afghanistan. The increased rules of engagement (ROE) laid out by Obama just before the NATO Warsaw summit allow the U.S. to directly target Taliban fighters with U.S. airpower. The United States has conducted nearly

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and 140 strikes in Afghanistan since the ROE changes.

With rampant instability in

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and

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, we may see a greater and increasing role for the B-52H in Afghanistan.

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[FORBIN]

TU-22M

 

[FORBIN]

AGM-86 also

B-52, successful test for Rotary Launcher Conventional!

The US Air Force (USAF) has just approved the new system of turntable IWBU 1760 (Internal Upgrade Weapons Bay) also named Rotary Launcher Conventional (RLC) with the firing of missile AGM-158 JASSM (Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile).

Boeing started the installation in the hold of the turntable IWBU 1760 (Internal Weapons Bay Upgrade) on which is loaded different types of missiles which JASSM. Three shots were successfully completed this week.

A B-52 is now capable of carrying up to 12 JASSM on its wing pylons. The integration of the CRL turntable in the Bay of internal weapons adds eight additional missiles at the plane. This increase in payload provides 60% additional capacity according to the US Air Force.

With this system it is possible for a B-52 to carry more weapons in the hold without this one carries weapons under the wings. Will result in a significantly increased range and endurance of the venerable bomber. The B-52H could for example take several missiles AGM-158 type JASSM-Extended (Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile) and the jammer releasable MALD-J (Miniature Air Launched Decoy), the latter, once dropped will to strolling into the target area for a prolonged period of time and confuse opposing signals.

According to the USAF, this system should equip the entire fleet of 76 B-52H by October 2017. The system turns on itself, in order to place in turn missiles in the release position.

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[Jeff Head]

AGM-86 also



View attachment 31298

OUTSTANDING!

Back to a payload of 20 missiles (conventional ones now) per aircraft.

As a MPA aircraft, way out over the PAcific somewhere, that would be an AWESOME warload.

Can you imagine?

12 LRASMs and perhaps 8 Modern HARM missiles on one aircraft?

Heck, to give them all that awesome range of 1,000km per missile...build a HARM version of the LRASM!

She'd be a SAG or CSG wrecking machine by herself.

What then if it was a flight of four of them?

 

[FORBIN]

B-52H get AGM-158B for 2018 ( B-1 right now only to have A/B ) laucher ready but necessay some adaptations, software, wired, B-2 later 2020+ less necessary coz stealth.

B-1B up to 24 AGM-158, B-2, 16.

For AGM-158C, B-1B have do test, operationnal for 2018 with, after Super Hornet, 2019, F-35 block 5 presumably 2023/24 and possible Bombers especialy B-52H which can have Harpoon ( 12 ) make sense.

A good missile not too big, compact, fit enough easy but not internaly in F-35 for some cm, obviously not supersonic as Russians, Chinese much more big for host more fuel for these speed.

 

[bruceb1959]

Russian aircraft

Excellent TU-160 video